Chapter 2 Upgrading MySQL on Windows

The approach you select depends on how the existing installation
was performed. Before proceeding, review
Upgrading MySQL for additional information on
upgrading MySQL that is not specific to Windows.

Note

Whichever approach you choose, always back up your current MySQL
installation before performing an upgrade. See
Database Backup Methods.

Upgrades between milestone releases (or from a milestone release
to a GA release) are not supported. Significant development
changes take place in milestone releases and you may encounter
compatibility issues or problems starting the server. For
instructions on how to perform a logical upgrade with a milestone
release, see Logical Upgrade.

Note

MySQL Installer does not support upgrades between
Community releases and
Commercial releases. If you require this
type of upgrade, perform it using the
ZIP
archive approach.

Upgrading MySQL with MySQL Installer

Performing an upgrade with MySQL Installer is the best approach when the
current server installation was performed with it and the
upgrade is within the current release series. MySQL Installer does not
support upgrades between release series, such as from
5.5 to 5.6, and it does not provide
an upgrade indicator to prompt you to upgrade. For instructions
on upgrading between release series, see
Upgrading MySQL Using the Windows ZIP Distribution.

To perform an upgrade using MySQL Installer:

Start MySQL Installer.

From the dashboard, click Catalog to
download the latest changes to the catalog. The installed
server can be upgraded only if the dashboard displays an
arrow next to the version number of the server.

Click Upgrade. All products that have a
newer version now appear in a list.

Note

MySQL Installer deselects the server upgrade option for milestone
releases (Pre-Release) in the same release series. In
addition, it displays a warning to indicate that the
upgrade is not supported, identifies the risks of
continuing, and provides a summary of the steps to perform
a logical upgrade manually. You can reselect server
upgrade and proceed at your own risk.

Deselect all but the MySQL server product, unless you intend
to upgrade other products at this time, and click
Next.

Click Execute to start the download.
When the download finishes, click
Next to begin the upgrade operation.

If the MySQL root user account has a
password, invoke mysqladmin with the
-p option and enter the password when
prompted.

Extract the ZIP archive. You may either overwrite your
existing MySQL installation (usually located at
C:\mysql), or install it into a
different directory, such as C:\mysql5.
Overwriting the existing installation is recommended.
However, for upgrades (as opposed to installing for the
first time), you must remove the data directory from your
existing MySQL installation to avoid replacing your current
data files. To do so, follow these steps:

Unzip the ZIP archive in some location other than your
current MySQL installation.

Remove the data directory.

Move the data directory from the current MySQL
installation to the location of the just-removed data
directory

Remove the current MySQL installation

Move the unzipped installation to the location of the
just-removed installation

Restart the server. For example, use the SC START
mysqld_service_name or
NET START
mysqld_service_name
command if you run MySQL as a service, or invoke
mysqld directly otherwise.

As Administrator, run mysql_upgrade to
check your tables, attempt to repair them if necessary, and
update your grant tables if they have changed so that you
can take advantage of any new capabilities. See
mysql_upgrade — Check and Upgrade MySQL Tables.